Marine officials in North Carolina Camp Lejeune officials are purchasing eight motorcycles for new-rider training as part of vigorous and ongoing service-wide efforts to keep off-duty motorcycle fatalities in check.
The new bikes at Camp Lejeune will be used in the earliest part of a training continuum at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, that Marine leaders officials like Farris have credited with a significant drop in deaths over the years.
The course is designed for Marines or sailors who are thinking about buying a motorcycle, said Ron Farris, the Marine Corps Installations – East Traffic Safety Manager.
"The reason we do it is mostly for Marines or sailors who are thinking they may want a motorcycle," he said. "We want to give everybody the opportunity to get the training beforehand," he said. "I'm sure there are cases in the past where Marines have wrecked right after they left a dealer's lot."
Officials are reminding both new and seasoned riders alike to be cautious as the weather warms and more Marines hit the open road.
Motorcycle fatalities hit an all-time high of 25 in 2008 and have steadily declined since with just 13 in 2014, said Ron Farris said, the Marine Corps Installations – East Traffic Safety Manager. But that is still too many and officials are reminding both new and seasoned riders alike to be cautious as the weather warms and more Marines hit the open road. Capt. Ty Balzer, a Marine spokesman at the Pentagon, said there has been an annual decline of motorcycle-related deaths have declined there has been credited training with a drop in the average number of deaths each year by 15 percent over the past five years since Corps-wide training was mandated.
"Just like we train Marines for the dangers of combat, the Marine Corps remains committed to using the same approach to aggressive and realistic motorcycle training in order to keep our riding population safer," Balzer said Capt. Ty Balzer.
Towards that end, tThe Marine Corps has been working to roll out a new introductory course called Riders Essential Skills Training to replace the level-one Basic Riders Course. REST will include braking and steering at "typical highway speeds" earlier in a Marines training.
For level-one training, Farris said Camp Lejeune officials the plan is now to keep a stable of 32 motorcycles there for level-one training. at Lejeune, replacing about six to 10 each year at each of the bases two training ranges. Other major installations do the same.
Motorcycle safety efforts
While motorcycle safety is a year-round initiative, renewed safety efforts are easonal emphasis is especially poignant in the wake of the recent death of a 23-year old assigned to Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, South Carolina.
Lance Cpl. Giovanni Brown died April 30 after a Jeep turned across his path in Port Royal, North Carolina, as he was riding along Savannah Highway at about 9 p.m., according to local media.
Many preventable accidents are the product of reckless driving, speed or alcohol. But other cases, like Brown's, but in others like Brown's negligence on the part of other drivers is the cause. Still, the motorcycle rider often pays the price, Farris said.
That is why Master Sgt. Brad Lenox, the Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron motorcycle club president at Beaufort works to develop good habits among the club's 55 active riders.
Lenox, who has been riding for more than over 30 years, tells his Marines to ride like they are invisible. That means assuming that automobiles may not see them and could turn into their lane, across into their path or rear-end them. It's an attitude that can help avoid dangerous collisions like the one that killed Brown.
In a car drivers are told to leave a two-second buffer between then and the car in front to ensure they have time to react and prevent accidents.
"On a motorcycle you need a 360-degree cushion," Lenox said. "You have to make sure you aren't in a blind spot or riding next to somebody. Sometimes that requires you [to] slow down, sometimes switch lanes. As a motorcycle you don't have the luxury of being inside that cage," like a car driver.
Members of the club meet once a month to talk about real-world situations in a "lessons learned session." It is important to hear about risky situations and close calls and then think about ways to avoid them in the future, he said.
Once every quarter he also organizes an informal skills day setting up a challenging course for Marines who can come and go throughout the day as their work allows. The course forces them to hone cornering and breaking skills.
Lenox also Then about three to four times a year he organizes a large group ride three or four times each year. During the last, Lenox included professional military education with a visit to the decommissioned aircraft carrier USS Yorktown at Patriots Point in Charleston, South Carolina Charleson. But the main emphasis remained on safety, which begins before a rider even gets on mounts their bike and fires it up.
"About two to three days prior to the ride we start our T-CLOCS," he said referring to the Motorcycle Safety Foundation's pre-ride checklist which inspects tires and wheels, controls, lights and electric, oil and other fluids, chassis and stands.
Farris also stresses the importance of T-CLOCS.
"If I'm in a car and get a flat on one wheel, I'm not tipping over so while all those things are important with four wheels, they are magnified with riding motorcycles," he said.
Lenox applauds service-wide efforts to improve training, but thinks more could be done, citing North Carolina's BikeSafe program as a model. Students hit the streets with a police instructor tailing them. Both wear headsets so the instructor can critique the student in real time during unpredictable traffic patterns.
"We tell Marines to train like they fight. Well let's train like we ride," he said. "It would cost some money, but how much are their lives worth? It would help mitigate the incidents we are still having."
